Addict sent to prison for trafficking cocaine

Richard Pascoe, 50, of Grafton Street, Buckland, made six trips between Portsmouth and Manchester, bringing the class A drugs to the city.

He was one of six men jailed after the gang was tracked down and arrested by detectives in Portsmouth.

Sentencing Pascoe to five years in prison, judge Roger Hetherington said he acted between a significant and lesser role.

The judge said: ‘You can’t say that you were in any way naive in terms of your experience of crime over the years.’

Pascoe has previous offences linked to heroin addiction, the court heard.

Hannah Duncan, for Pascoe, said he was ‘used by’ other men in the gang and was given heroin but then expected to courier drugs in return.

A police expert said around 4.5kg of drugs worth around £450,000 could have been used in the conspiracy, which ran between April and September last year.

The judge sentenced the men on the basis 1kg was used.

The other men involved were sentenced on Friday and were:

Luke Leighton, 25, of Henderson Road, Southsea, jailed for nine years.

John Burns, 27, Broadway, in Manchester, was jailed for eight years.

Chae Neville, 19, of Sultan Road, Buckland, was jailed for three years and two months.

James Hull, 24, of Dresden Street, Manchester, jailed for four years and six months.

Corey Vaughan, 21, of no fixed address, jailed for five years and five months.

All men pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply class A drugs at various earlier hearings.